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He comes with a wide, welcoming grin, flashed with the regularity of a lighthouse beacon. Friendly.

He has risen from the ashes of a down-and-out family to become a cornerstone on the Buffalo Bills’ defensive line, earning him a healthy $6.5 million under the salary cap this season.

Just 24, he is already Pro Bowl material. The future is bright. So are the prospects of money and fame.

Except for one thing — Dareus also comes with trouble.

Lots of trouble. Trouble with the law. Trouble with drugs. Troubles with a family that keeps dying on him in circumstances from the tragic to the nefarious.

He is a man-child. Too often, more child, than man, and now he will miss the remainder of the Bills’ Organized Team Activities as he attempts to sort out the three-ring circus that is his personal life.

He has been arrested twice this year, the latest this weekend for street racing. Witnesses called police after two cars were seen racing down a street in the middle of the afternoon, barely five minutes from the Bills’ practice site. When police arrived, they found Dareus had parked his car into a tree while the other driver, believed to be teammate Jerry Hughes, had disappeared.

So begins the latest debacle for a player whose prodigious talent — he has 45 starts since being the third pick in the 2011 draft, and had 7.5 sacks last season — is matched only by an even bigger penchant for kissing calamity.

In an interview with the Sun’s John Kryk last December he spoke of the fear he felt after the 2012 shooting death of his younger brother, Simeon. His father died when he was six. His mother was chronically ill. He went to live with his grandmother, only to have her die when he was 13. Then his high school football coach — and father figure — was killed when he was only 18. Ironically, in light of his latest arrest, his coach died in a car crash.

Obviously, Dareus didn’t get the message.

“I didn’t leave my house for months,” he told Kryk last December about the death of his brother. “I’ve been looking over my shoulder ... just scared that something might happen. The plane could go down. A car wreck. It’s just made me afraid to do anything.”

But, Dareus tells people a lot of things.

It’s just getting more difficult to believe him.

For instance, he faces charges in Alabama where he was arrested this off-season for possession of synthetic marijuana. The reason police stopped him was because he was ... ahhh, speeding!

Again, Dareus didn’t get the message.

Some might suggest everyone was better off when he was afraid to leave his house.

Dareus pointed out to reporters last week that “things happen” and that he wasn’t “a trouble guy.”

But, clearly, he is a trouble guy and it has left the Bills in a quandary of what to do next. Not that Dareus is an isolated case. NFL players have been charged with any plethora of crimes, from murder to dog-fighting. It’s possible to find figures to support everything from the idea they’re drug-addled maniacs, to misrepresented heros. A recent USA Today study showed that the NFL arrest rate for active players is around one in 47, actually less than in the general population, which in the U.S. is about one in 25.

Conversely, the book, Pros & Cons, indicated that 21.4% of those players studied had faced arrest.

The difference is that, as opposed to the general population, NFL players tend to have more money, more time on their hands, and with a college education, they live a privileged lifestyle. They have the means and the wherewithal to know better; to have learned to be circumspect, to know what is right and what is not.

So, argue if you will that Dareus isn’t the only misfit. But he is the Bills’ misfit and they must figure out whether he is worth keeping. They could try to trade him. They could just release him now — but if they hope to make the playoffs for the first time in 15 years they need him to make trouble in someone else’s backfield and not in their own backyard.

Dareus’ latest bonehead move dove-tailed inconveniently with an announcement from the Bills Tuesday about a partnership with the local Independent Health group, to “engage the Western New York community in healthy behaviours”. Just guessing, but maybe getting their guys to stop speeding through community streets might be a good place to start.

The Bills could dump Dareus after the season and save themselves’ $8.5 million (and a headache). On the other hand, what if he suddenly grows up; suddenly starts taking responsibility for his life, suddenly starts using brain and brawn with equal dexterity?

Head coach Doug Marrone indicated Tuesday that the team won’t suspend him.

“Marcell has made some poor decisions lately. He’s dealing with a lot of personal issues,” said Marrone. “I believe in Marcell and I will do everything I can to make sure that we can get him on the right track.”

Dareus is expected to return for mandatory mini-camp.

Which is nice. Except for one thing. Even Marrone can’t coach stupid, and right now Dareus is acting like he’s got about a 330-pound trunkful of it.

Bills' Marcell Dareus in trouble with the law again

He comes with a wide, welcoming grin, flashed with the regularity of a lighthouse beacon. Friendly.

He has risen from the ashes of a down-and-out family to become a cornerstone on the Buffalo Bills’ defensive line, earning him a healthy $6.5 million under the salary cap this season.

Just 24, he is already Pro Bowl material. The future is bright. So are the prospects of money and fame.

Except for one thing — Dareus also comes with trouble.

Lots of trouble. Trouble with the law. Trouble with drugs. Troubles with a family that keeps dying on him in circumstances from the tragic to the nefarious.

He is a man-child. Too often, more child, than man, and now he will miss the remainder of the Bills’ Organized Team Activities as he attempts to sort out the three-ring circus that is his personal life.